Hermetic-closure gasket and its manufacture.



No. 826,104. 1 PATIENTED JULY 17, 1906."

w. H. nomss. HERMETIG CLOSURE GASKET ANDITS MANUFACTURE.

APPLIOATION FILED 1113.29. 1904.

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Wil i/asses v F- ;MMM I M!" ket-for use in hermetic closures and theimmounting the cutter.

ket must rest with comparative looseness upon -usually must be a veryquick operation.

State of Connecticut, have invented certain these im roved gaskets fromthe tube.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. HONISS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. HERMETIC'CLOSUIRE GASKETAND ITS MANUFACTURE- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filedFebruary 29, 1904. Serial m3. 195.708.

Patented July 17, 1906.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Homss, a. citizen of the United States,and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford-and new and usefulImprovements in Hermetic- Closure Gaskets and Their Manufacture, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention comprises an improved gasproved process for manufacturingthose gasets.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tube of l elastic material fromwhich these askets are cut. Fi 2 is a plan view of one orm of apparatusor performing the process of cutpring 1 3 is a si e view of the finishedgasket in segtion through its lon itudinal center. Fig. 4 is a sideview, and Fig. 5 a top view, of the finished gasket. Figs. 6 and 7 arefragmentary sectional side views showing the ap lication of thesegaskets upon two di erent forms of receptacles, illustrating itsfeatures of advantage, Fig. 6 showing it applied to the sealing of aplainrimmed tumbler, while Fi 7 shows it as applied to the sealin of ashou dered jar. Fig. 8 shows a modi ed form of the gasket and also I amodified method of This improved gasket finds its chief utility inconnection with what is known as a wedging-closure, in which the gasketis compressed at an angle against the peripheral edge or shoulder of itsseat upon the ar by means of a taperin or flaring cap. The gaskets mostcommon y used for these Wedgingclosures are of circular or other.compact cross-section. These gaskets are supported prior to the sealingoperation just above the shoulder or edge against which they are to becompressed, and it is necessary to deform a gasket of circularcross-section to a considerable extent from its original form in orderto carry with'certainty .a sufiicient amount of it across the sealingedge or zone upon which it is to be compressed. Inasmuch as the gasitsseat during the air-exhausting operation it follows that the deformingof the gasket to carry it across its sealing-seat must take place duringthe sealing operation, which Moreover, the sealin operation takes placeinside the hermetica ly-sealed retort beyond the observation of theoperator. Hence the safety and certainty of the seal when em- I ployingthe customary form of gasket depends almost wholly upon the form of thesealingseat and the cap and upon the manipulative methods employed inthe sealin operation.

The improved gasket of this mvention is particular y well adapted foruse in these wed ing-closures, since it is comparatively thic at themiddle portion, at which the wedging-pressure is ap lied, and thintoward the edges where less ru ber is required for the sealingoperation. One of these thin edges, however, is utilized to projectacross the sealing-seat while in its initial or air-exhaustingoperation, thus insuring a safe and certain position 'of the gasket, asit is originally placed upon the receptacle by the operator, who is thusenabled to observe that the closure is in proper position for thesubsequent sealing operation. Moreover, this improved gasket, inaddition to its ultimate utility as a closure, is of a form whichenables it to be manufactured advanta eously from a tube of rubber orother suitab e gasket material, as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed.

The form of this improved gasket it shown in detail in Fi s. 3, 4, and5. The cross-section is that o a parallelogram, the parallel inner andouter sides 27 and 29 of which are coincident with the inner and outercylindrical surface 31 and 32, respectively. The incined line 24 of thecross-section is at an acute angle with the line 27 and is coincidentwith the exterior conical surface 35 of the gasket, whilethe line 25 isinclined at an acute angle with the outer line 29 of the cross-sectionand is coincident with the inner conical surface 34 of the gasket. Thisgasket when of proper size will when placed upon the receiving-seatof areceptac e centralize and osition itself in proper relation to the seaingseat, so that the thin acute-angled edge 33 will pro'ect over andbelow the sealing-seat by simply placing the gasket and its cap upon therece tacle, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. In Fig. 6 t e edge 33 projectswell below the outer edge of the rim 22 of the tumbler 21, bringing thethickest portion of the gasket to the position at which it is wed edagainst the rim of the gasket by the sea ing operation. The thin edgesof the gasket above and below the seal' portion thereof constitutesafetymargins or the gasket to insure the proper positioning of thethicker central or sealing zone of the gasket, the thinning of theseedges ITO effecting a saving of the material of wh ch the increasingthat fliciency. Fig. 7 represents the application of-this gasket. to ajar 38, having a shouldered sea g-seat 37, which is preferably roundedor chamfered atithe zone which is to receive the effectivesealing-pressure. The'lower thin edge 33 of the gasket projects wellover and below that zone, while the upper thin edge 39 extends betweenthe cap '40 and the u per portion of the jar, thereby extending tiliesupporting area of the gasket and the cap in their relation to the jarwithout having an unnecessary bulk of thickness at its u per'end, thethin end permitting the cap to t more closely against the up er portionof the jar. This form of gasket y disposing the material in the mostadvantageous manner efiects an economy in the use of the rubber of whichthe gasket is made by reducing the cost of the material required for agiven number of gaskets. Gaskets of circular cross-section are commonlymade by extrusion processes, the unvulcanized rubber being forcedthrough an opening of the required size, thus producing a continuousstrip of the required cross-section. These "strips are afterward cut up.into proper lengths, the ends of which are scarfed and cemented togetherto form the rings before being. vulcanized. These processes are slow andexpensive and lead to irregularities 1n size an imperfections in thejoining.

compared with these gaskets of circular, square, or other compact, formcommonly employed for wedging-closur'es the gaskets of the presentinvention are less expensive, re-

quiring less'room on the ordinary shouldered sealing-seat, may be usedfor plain-rimmed tumblers having no receiving-seat, and repuire lesspressure and less movement to deorm and compress them during the sealingoperation.

This improved asket may be made by extrusion, as above escribed, or inother wellknown ways; but it is preferably cut from a tube of theappropriate size made from rub her or other suitable material, sincethis method is more economical than the others' Fig. 2 illustrates oneof the ways of carrying out the process of cutting this gasket from arubber tube. The tube 47 is made approximately of the same inner andouter diameters as" the desired diameters of the inner and outercylindrical surfaces 31 and 32 of the finished gasket. The tube ismounted for rotation upon an axis coincident with its longitudinalcenter'as, for example, upon the mandrel 48, turnin u on the centers 50.The tub'emay be stretc e over the mandrel or cemented thereto in anydesired or con- Venient way. The cutter 49 is mounted to engage the tube47 at suitable intervals along the length of the latter, these intervalsbeing determined by the desired length of the cylindrical portlons ofthe gasket. The cutter is fed toward the'axis of the mandrel at the sameangle to that axis as the desired angle for the overhangin' edge 33 ofthe finished gasket and is move along the mandrel or the mandrel ismoved longitudinally past the cutter after each operation of the cutter.

In Fig. 8 is shown a modified form of gas- .ket and a modified form ofapparatus for outtin that gasket from tubing. The inclined su' aces77and 78 of the asket 76 are curved instead of being straig t inclines. Asindicated by this re, it .18 not essential that these inclined sidesshall be straight or that they shall be parallel with each other. In theapparatus shown in Fig. 8 the cutter 82 is pivotally mounted at 83,being swung upon that pivot in the cutting o eration. T e blade 82should be curved in substantial conformity with an arc struck from thepivotal center 83. In this apparatus, as in that shown in Fi 2, thecutter 82 may be moved longitudinal y after each out along the tube 47whose thickness extends from 79 to 80, or the tube may be advancedlongitudinally past the cutter after each cutting stroke and while thecutter is in its outer position. (Shown in Fig. 8.)

I claim as my 'invention a 1. The process of making acute-angledringgaskets from a tube of gasket material, which consists in rotatingthe tube upon its longitudinal center as an axis, and cutting the ringstherefrom by traversing a cuttingtool throu h the wall of the rotatingtube at the desired intervals, and at an acute angle with the said axis.

2; The process of making acute-angled rin gaskets, which consists inseparating e-ao gasket from a tube of asket material by means of acircumferentia cut penetrating the wall of the tube at an acute angle tothe longitudinal center of the tube.

'3. A ring gasket made of rubber or similar elastic material, and havingcylindrical inner and outer faces, with the adjacent edges formin acuteangles with the respective inner an outer faces. 1

.4. An annular gasket, made of rubber or similar elastic material in theform of a short cylinder, having oblique u per and lower surfaces substantiallyparalle with each other.

5; A gasket for hermetically-sealed receptacles made of rubber orsimilar elastic material, having an approximately rhombic or rhomboidalcross-section, the inner and outer faces of which are substantiallycylindrical.

In testimony whereof I have signed my

